This is the second of four posts with my initial thoughts. I’m dividing the nineteen award categories into written fiction works (novel, novella, novelette, short story, young adult book), other individual works (related work, graphic story, long form dramatic presentation, short form dramatic presentation), people categories (short form editor, long form editor, professional artist, fan writer, fan artist, new writer), and serial categories (series, semiprozine, fanzine, fancast).

Best Related Work

The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick, by Mallory O’Meara (Hanover Square)

The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein, by Farah Mendlesohn (Unbound)

“2019 John W. Campbell Award Acceptance Speech”, by Jeannette Ng

Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin, produced and directed by Arwen Curry

I nominated the Heinlein book and the Le Guin documentary. I watched Jeannette Ng’s speech during the livestream of last year’s Hugo Awards Ceremony. While I appreciate the changes it helped catalyze, I don’t think compares to the other finalists.

I’ll be able to access the other three books through three different digital resources from my library. Becoming Superman is available through Hoopla, but I’ve also put a hold on the physical copy as well. While Hoopla’s interface works well for comics, it’s not so great for ebooks. Plus, I’d like to save my Hoopla checkouts for the next category. If my library doesn’t reopen in time or if the book isn’t provided in the Hugo Voters Packet, the Hoopla version will do. Joanna Russ is available through the EBSCOhost ebook collection as a PDF file. I’m not crazy about reading PDF files, but it isn’t bad on a tablet. Finally, The Lady from the Black Lagoon is available through OverDrive which works seamlessly with my ereader.

LaGuardia was the only one here which I nominated. I decided I would wait to read the latest entries in the Monstress and Paper Girls series. I figured they were likely to make the ballot without me and looked at other things for my nominations.

I don’t remember hearing about Die or Mooncakes before now. I see that Mooncakes is a redone and revised print version of an ongoing webcomic. It doesn’t currently seem to be available digitally at all. Pre-release reviewers mention receiving an eARC through NetGalley so perhaps the publisher will do that for the Hugo Packet as well.

I’ve been meaning to read The Wicked + The Divine series since it first began, but haven’t gotten to it. Luckily the entire thing is available at Hoopla both as nine volumes and in the four omnibus editions. So I’ll be able to save some checkouts for the other finalists I need to read. All of them are at Hoopla except Mooncakes. I’ve put a hold on my library’s print copy in hopes they reopen in time for me to read it before voting ends.

Us, written and directed by Jordan Peele (Monkeypaw Productions/Universal Pictures)

I nominated Good Omens, but I still need to watch everything else here. I don’t usually see superhero movies until they become Hugo finalists. Horror isn’t my thing, but I was pleasantly surprised by Jordan Peele’s previous Hugo finalist Get Out. I just didn’t have any desire to see the latest Star Wars in the theater. And I haven’t really heard enough about Russian Doll to compel me to check it out until now.

I’ve signed up for Disney+ to watch the Marvel movies and The Mandalorian episode which was nominated in short form. Apparently The Rise of Skywalker isn’t there yet so I’ve put the DVD on hold at the library (position 33 once they reopen!). Good Omens I saw via Amazon Prime, Russian Doll is from Netfix, and Us is currently on HBO. Stream all the things!

My only nominee here is the episode of The Expanse. I didn’t start catching up with my recorded episodes of The Good Place or Doctor Who until after nominations closed. I haven’t reached this episode of The Good Place, although I have since watched the Doctor Who New Year’s Special. I didn’t think it was particularly special, but I guess we’re required to have a Doctor Who episode on the ballot even when only one aired in the qualifying year.

I’ve started watching The Mandalorian, and I finally get the appeal of Baby Yoda. He’s cuter in action. I’ll be going into Watchmen having never seen any other incarnation.

Tell me what you’ve read or watched here. Is there anything else you were hoping to see on the ballot?